


'cause you make me warm from the inside out

by izukillme



Series: a song of ice and fire [13]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, writing old OTPs really does get you up in the feels hm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27210478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izukillme/pseuds/izukillme
Summary: "If we weren't here, I'd marry you already."
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster
Series: a song of ice and fire [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1182614
Comments: 12
Kudos: 80





	'cause you make me warm from the inside out

**Author's Note:**

> haha this was rlly fun to write i love these dumb boys <3

“It’s fucking _freezing_ out here,” Gray forced out through chattering teeth, shaking all over. He was used to the cold—he’d grown up in Isvan and trained in the icy mountains of Brago, after all—but this was just something else. Add that to the fact that as an Ice Mage, his naturally cool core sapped body heat and made him sensitive to chill, and, well… you get the gist.

What he’d give for Happy to be here right now. The Exceed would probably be able to carry them both down this goddamn mountain and out of the storm, but Happy had injured his wing on Natsu’s last mission and was currently recovering at the guild.

Natsu, who was stretched out on the floor of the cave, gave him a look that was a cross between smug and slightly worried. Gray grit his teeth and tried not to glare at his boyfriend—stupid fire core, keeping Natsu all warm and toasty while he froze his ass off. He curled into a ball instead, trying to preserve what little warmth he had.

“You don’t look so hot, babe,” Natsu said a few minutes later, watching Gray curl further and further into himself. Gray just grunted and buried his head deeper in his knees, not wanting Natsu to see him so vulnerable.

There was silence for a little while, the only sound the deafening rain pouring outside the cave that they were taking shelter in. Gray shivered and shuddered, trying his best not to show it. He was pretty sure he was failing, though.

That was when a pair of warm arms wrapped around him, and he was pulled flush against a muscular chest, a hand carding through his hair. A scarf was draped over his shirtless torso— _Natsu’s_ scarf, Gray recognised hazily—and then a face topped with pink hair came into view. He blinked up at Natsu, who was glaring powerfully, a scowl twisting his usually pleasant face.

“Next time you need help, just _tell me!_ I’m your boyfriend! When you’re around me, it’s okay to not be the goddamn iron fortress you always are!” Natsu snapped, drawing Gray closer to him. He’d stretched his legs, and Gray slowly pushed his own out too, putting himself almost in Natsu’s lap but not quite. 

“S—sorry,” he mumbled, a little embarrassed. Natsu was right. It was okay to let himself go around him. It was just that… Gray wanted to _protect_ Natsu, to be his equal and to be as strong as he was, and how could one be strong _and_ vulnerable?

“That’s love, isn’t it?” Natsu said softly, as if reading Gray’s mind. “Babe, it’s about giving every side of yourself to the other person. I can take it. I _want_ to take it, so… let me.”

Gray flushed slightly, but let himself relax against Natsu, nodding.

“Okay,” he whispered, his tense muscles unclenching as Natsu’s warmth enveloped him. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Natsu said tenderly, caressing Gray’s hair and holding him in place. Gray lay limp against him, and his eyes began to flutter shut, lulled into momentary peace. The scarf over his upper body was… warm, in a way that couldn’t be just the material. Perhaps it was the magic—or perhaps it was all the love in it, from Igneel to Natsu and now from Natsu to him.

Wow, being vulnerable really made him sappy, didn’t it?

Just as Gray was about to drift off, safe and comfortable in his boyfriend’s arms despite the fact that they were trapped in a tiny cave during a rainstorm, a thought flashed through his head.

_If we weren’t stuck here, I’d marry you already._

It was just as well that sleep claimed him seconds before he realised that he’d said that out loud, or noticed the pink flush on Natsu’s face.

* * *

When Gray woke up the next morning, it was to Natsu hovering over him, biting his lower lip anxiously and shifting from foot to foot. Gray stretched, feeling oddly well-rested, and quirked a brow at his boyfriend.

“Spit it out, what’s eatin’ ya?” he asked lazily, pulling off the scarf and handing it back to Natsu, who put it on with a profuse blush.

“Okay, um,” Gray said slowly, “that’s… new. What happened to you? You _are_ the real Natsu and not some clone that a Dark Wizard decided to substitute him with just to fuck around?” He cracked his knuckles, rising to his feet, magic pricking at his fingertips. “‘Cause if you did that, you’re going to get a personal view of what hell looks like.”

“No!” Natsu squawked. “No. No, I’m the real one.” 

He slipped off his vest, lifting his arm to show off the bite mark under his armpit. Gray scrutinised it for a second before nodding—only he and the real Natsu knew about that scar. Happy, angry at being sidelined for Gray, had bit Natsu as hard as he could before flying off in tears: the two had then teamed up to find the Exceed, both assuring him that Gray was an _addition_ and not a replacement in the family.

“Okay, so what’s going on?” Gray asked once more, locating his shirt from the corner of the cave and slipping it on. He knew he’d probably lose it soon, but it was a nice shirt and he’d like to keep it as long as he could.

Natsu blushed harder, fidgeting with his hands. Then, finally, he said in a low whisper, “Did you mean it?”

“Mean it?” Gray tilted his head, utterly confused.

“About—about marrying me. Um. That is. If we weren’t stuck in this cave.” Natsu’s voice came out grating and a little choked up, and Gray blinked for a second before he remembered.

_If we weren’t here, I’d marry you already._

“D—did I say that out loud?!” he yelped, face turning hot. “I—Natsu, I—”

Natsu shook his head, looking a little dejected.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I get it. You were tired and—”

“Yeah, I meant it. I wanna marry you, Flame Brain.” Gray didn’t know what force had taken hold of him, but he was sure it wasn’t him moving his mouth. And yet, it was—it was a Gray that wasn’t scared of just how much he loved Natsu, and that was both terrifying and beautiful. “There isn’t really anyone else who gets me the way you do, dumbass. Who else is gonna spar with me at three in the morning when I can’t sleep, or eat my awful food with that big grin, or give me a good morning kiss on my _ears_? I don’t know anyone else like that, and I don’t _want_ to. You’re Natsu, and I want Natsu.” 

Natsu turned redder, if that was possible. 

“O—oh,” he said in a strangled voice. “I—okay.” Gray raised an eyebrow. 

“Okay? I literally just gave you a confession of undying love and all you have to say is _okay_?” He added a teasing edge to his voice to lighten the mood a little, and Natsu grinned mischievously.

“Yeah. Okay,” he said jokingly. Gray huffed, pretending to be affronted. 

“Well then, I guess that present I have for you is just going to go to someone else. After all, if you can only give me ‘okay’, I should probably find somebody else.”

“A present?!” Natsu whined, grabbing Gray’s arms. “Baaabeeee! Come _on_ , I’m sorry!”

“No can do.”

They bickered all the way down the mountain, but it was light and easy, the way it always was between them. Even as Natsu tossed insults at him, he grasped Gray’s hand as tight as ever. And Gray’s grip on Natsu’s hand was just as secure, even while snapping back clever retorts.

Natsu didn’t need to put it in words for Gray to understand just what he meant—he never did, because he said it in a million other ways, like taking off his precious scarf or letting Gray use him as a portable heater.

_I love you, too._

**Author's Note:**

> comments make a blob happy~


End file.
